New employer withdrew contract and are now asking for notice period money to be paid back

fayeg93

Hi All,
I was due to start a new job on the 5th May, I had signed contracts etc and was just working my notice period at my current employer.

Due to the coronavirus the new employer said they would have to withdraw their offer of a job. As you can imagine this was stressful as I wondered if I would be without a job! Fortunately my current employer has kept me on but furloughed me. 

The job where I was supposed to start, has paid me 1 weeks money. (They never communicated they would do this, but I assume it is my 1 weeks notice period). They are now asking for the money back as it was paid in error. Even though I never worked there, should they pay me a notice period as per the contract agreement? Do I have to pay them this money back?

Many Thanks

TripleH

I think you will (without having seen the contract) as if your start date is 5th May, you haven't commenced employment yet. It depends on how things are worded.

dsccrbstck

I don't think the new employer would need to pay you any notice period considering you never started work there? To my understanding you only get 1 week's notice period if you have worked for at least 1 month or more continuously. Unless your your contract says differently.

Undervalued

dsccrbstck said:

I don't think the new employer would need to pay you any notice period considering you never started work there? To my understanding you only get 1 week's notice period if you have worked for at least 1 month or more continuously. Unless your your contract says differently.

Quite.

It is possible (although rare in "ordinary" jobs) to receive a sort of "golden hello" to encourage a new employee to join the company. Normally they are rather more than a week's wages and would generally have to be repaid if the employee left within a specified period.

If, as is far more likely, this is a mistake then yes it must be repaid.

Comms69

That said let them sue you for it. £10 says they don’t 

General_Grant

fayeg93 said:

Hi All,
I was due to start a new job on the 5th May, I had signed contracts etc and was just working my notice period at my current employer.

Due to the coronavirus the new employer said they would have to withdraw their offer of a job. As you can imagine this was stressful as I wondered if I would be without a job! Fortunately my current employer has kept me on but furloughed me. 

The job where I was supposed to start, has paid me 1 weeks money. (They never communicated they would do this, but I assume it is my 1 weeks notice period). They are now asking for the money back as it was paid in error. Even though I never worked there, should they pay me a notice period as per the contract agreement? Do I have to pay them this money back?

Many Thanks

It is this which is important. 
Although statutory notice would have been nil until you had worked there a month, the contract can override that. 
Did it say you were entitled to a week's notice?   Or more?
What notice did you actually receive?  When did you receive the information?
If the notice (starting on the day after you received it) would take you into that contract start of Tuesday, 5 May (why not Monday, it's not a bank holiday this year?) then you would be due a payment for the unexpired notice.

Undervalued

General_Grant said:

fayeg93 said:

Hi All,
I was due to start a new job on the 5th May, I had signed contracts etc and was just working my notice period at my current employer.

Due to the coronavirus the new employer said they would have to withdraw their offer of a job. As you can imagine this was stressful as I wondered if I would be without a job! Fortunately my current employer has kept me on but furloughed me. 

The job where I was supposed to start, has paid me 1 weeks money. (They never communicated they would do this, but I assume it is my 1 weeks notice period). They are now asking for the money back as it was paid in error. Even though I never worked there, should they pay me a notice period as per the contract agreement? Do I have to pay them this money back?

Many Thanks

It is this which is important. 
Although statutory notice would have been nil until you had worked there a month, the contract can override that. 
Did it say you were entitled to a week's notice?   Or more?
What notice did you actually receive?  When did you receive the information?
If the notice (starting on the day after you received it) would take you into that contract start of Tuesday, 5 May (why not Monday, it's not a bank holiday this year?) then you would be due a payment for the unexpired notice.

Yes but a weeks notice issued from today, although it would take the OP past their intended start date, it would only be a couple of days pay that was due, not a whole week. If they were contractually entitled to two (or four) weeks notice then they would be entitled to more than a week's pay so it doesn't add up either way.

General_Grant

Undervalued said:

General_Grant said:

fayeg93 said:

Hi All,
I was due to start a new job on the 5th May, I had signed contracts etc and was just working my notice period at my current employer.

Due to the coronavirus the new employer said they would have to withdraw their offer of a job. As you can imagine this was stressful as I wondered if I would be without a job! Fortunately my current employer has kept me on but furloughed me. 

The job where I was supposed to start, has paid me 1 weeks money. (They never communicated they would do this, but I assume it is my 1 weeks notice period). They are now asking for the money back as it was paid in error. Even though I never worked there, should they pay me a notice period as per the contract agreement? Do I have to pay them this money back?

Many Thanks

It is this which is important. 
Although statutory notice would have been nil until you had worked there a month, the contract can override that. 
Did it say you were entitled to a week's notice?   Or more?
What notice did you actually receive?  When did you receive the information?
If the notice (starting on the day after you received it) would take you into that contract start of Tuesday, 5 May (why not Monday, it's not a bank holiday this year?) then you would be due a payment for the unexpired notice.

Yes but a weeks notice issued from today, although it would take the OP past their intended start date, it would only be a couple of days pay that was due, not a whole week. If they were contractually entitled to two (or four) weeks notice then they would be entitled to more than a week's pay so it doesn't add up either way.

Yes but

that's why I asked when the notice was received and how much was due.

OP needs to consider both - if notice was received on Monday 27 April and only one week's notice was due, nothing would be due but the employing organisation might have thought one week's pay was due.  That would explain their wanting to recall a payment made in error.

jonnygee2

Even though I never worked there, should they pay me a notice period as per the contract agreement?

They need to give you the notice on your contract - so if that's one week, the contract can only end the contract 1 week after they tell you they are ending it. 

Pay/them owing money only starts when the first day of working starts on the contract.

If those two periods overlap, then you are owed money for the days where you were a) scheduled to work as per contract and b) your notice period was still in effect.

If they have overpaid you, you need to pay it back. 

fayeg93

Thanks everyone for your replies!

They gave me 1 weeks notice at the start of April, and my start date was the 5th May, so I guess I’m not entitled to any pay. I will transfer them back the money tomorrow.